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Longstreet
Theatre
Green and Sumter Streets
Main Office, Room 402
Columbia, SC 29208
phone:
803.777.4288
fax: 803.777.6669
email: theatre@sc.edu or dance@sc.edu
The Department of Theatre and Dance
presents
Present Laughter
Written by Noël Coward
Directed by Rob Clare
February 17-25, 2012
Longstreet Theatre
1300 Greene St.
Show Times
Friday, February 17: 8pm
Saturday, February 18: 7pm
Sunday, February 19: 3pm
Wednesday, February 22: 8pm
Thursday, February 23: 8pm
Friday, February 24: 8pm
Saturday, February 25: 7pm and 11pm
*11pm performance is half-price
Tickets: $10 - $16
Call 777-2551 for reservations.
(Box office opens February 10 at 12:30p.
Box office hours: M-F, 12:30p - 5:30p.)
Theatre South Carolina at the University of SC will stage Noël Coward’s uproarious comedy of manners, Present Laughter, February 17-25, 2012 at Longstreet Theatre.
Performance times are: Friday, February 17 at 8pm; February 18 at 7pm; February 19 at 3pm; February 22-24 at 8pm; and February 25 at 7pm and 11pm. The 11pm performance will be half-price.
Tickets for the production are available by calling 803-777-2551, or by visiting the box office on the first floor of Longstreet Theatre. The box office is open 12:30pm – 5:30pm beginning Friday, February 10. Ticket prices are $16 for the general public, $14 for university faculty/staff, military and seniors 60+ and $10 for students with valid identification. Longstreet Theatre is located at 1300 Greene St.
Chock full of playwright Noël Coward’s razor sharp humor, Present Laughter is a sidesplitting comedy of manners about the complications -- and pitfalls -- of living the privileged life. Vain matinee idol Garry Essendine has it all – fame, fortune, his pick of the ladies, and, surprisingly, a wife who charmingly sticks around in spite of his indiscretions. As he prepares to leave for a performance tour in Africa, however, the revelation of Garry’s improprieties throws his perfect world, and the lives of his entourage, into a tailspin.
Theatre South Carolina has brought in Rob Clare, an internationally acclaimed director and specialist in the works of Shakespeare, to direct the production. Clare’s extensive credits include work with the Royal Shakespeare Company, UK National Theatre, the Central School in London, and here in the US, appointments at the Steppenwolf Theatre, Tisch School of the Arts at NYU and Julliard.
Though the main thrust of Clare’s career has been in the service of helping actors bring the works of Shakespeare to life, he finds a welcome similarity in taking on Coward’s quick-witted wordplay. “Coward is all about language, wit, cleverness and the specificity of the language,” Clare says, “and so there's a clear crossover to working with Shakespearean text, which is similarly full of what I like to think of as ‘opportunities’ for the actors.”
The play’s title actually comes from a line in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night -- “Present mirth hath present laughter.” Clare thinks the two plays are also linked in their content. “Twelfth Night is special among Shakespeare's comedies in that it's shaded with darker tones and melancholy, as well as the exuberant tones and laughter that it's capable of generating,” he explains. “It can be hilariously funny, but the stakes are high, too; people's hearts can be broken and there's a cost. There's also the sense of transience and things passing, and that's absolutely there in Coward.”
A well-known bon vivant and master of his own celebrity, playwright Noël Coward admitted that he wrote some of his own life into Present Laughter, describing the play as “a series of semi-autobiographical pyrotechnics.” Coward played the role of the narcissistic main character for the play’s initial UK tour in 1942 and again during a US tour in 1958.
“Whether we can argue that it's strictly autobiographical or not, I don't know,” says Clare, “but I think that certainly Coward understood the situation and journey that Garry goes on, and it's to Coward's credit that if it is autobiographical, he's able to poke fun at himself as he does in the play.”
“This is a play where we can actually care about all of the characters,” the director notes. “We laugh at the choices they're making and I hope we also feel that we sympathize with them. That's very much the intention as we go into the piece -- to make them human and credible and sympathetic creatures, and yet see them as very clearly deeply flawed. I hope that's what makes the play engaging and interesting to us.”
Nine student actors, who Clare calls “very skilled,” are cast in the production, as well as two guest performers: Trey Hobbs, an alum of the theatre program, and professional actress Patti Walker. The student cast is comprised of MFA acting candidates Jessi Noel, Amanda Forstrom, Don Russell, Catherine Friesen, Samuel Kinsman, Andy Hernandez and Yvonne Senat, and undergraduate Grace Fennell. MFA acting candidate Joe Mallon is cast as Garry.
The sleekly modern elegance of Garry’s opulent life in Manhattan – a transatlantic switch from the play’s normal UK setting – is being brought to life by MFA students Mei Xuemei (scenic designer), Sean Smith (costume design) and Brad Cozby (lighting design). Assistant Professor Walter Clissen is designing the jazz-age soundscape for the production.
“It’s love, it’s life and it’s laughter,” Clare says when asked to sum up the play in few words. “At times it’s bittersweet, but in the end it’s love and it’s life and it’s laughter.”
For more information about Present Laughter, the productions of Theatre South Carolina or the theatre program at the University of SC, please contact Kevin Bush by phone at (803) 777-9353 or by email at bushk@mailbox.sc.edu.
| Columbia, SC 29208 • 803-777-4288• theatre@sc.edu | © University of South Carolina Board of Trustees |